Romanian teacher publishes book on his eight-year detention in China

Romanian publisher Litera announced the release of the book The Pink Blanket. Imprisoned in Communist China/Păturica roz. Întemnițat în China comunistă by Marius Balo, an autobiographical journey depicting the author’s jail time in China.

“A heart-wrenching novel in terms of its subject matter, it starts from the dark experiences of a teacher who found himself in China as a result of a series of deceptions that led to his eight-year detention,” the publisher said in the press release.

Marius Balo was 33 and teaching at the University of Beijing when he was arrested and thrown into prison, without knowing why or for how long. This is the premise of the novel written by Balo, an autobiographical account, a testimony of freedom, love, and hope in a Kafkaesque universe.

Marius Balo, a professor at Renmin University Beijing and a foreign expert in the XinDongFang Technology and Education Group (New Oriental) Beijing, settled in China in 2010. On March 28, 2014, he was arrested, according to his lawyers, for alleged contractual fraud, accused of receiving USD 80 from Chinese citizens without knowing that the money came from criminal activities.

Balo was sentenced to eight years in prison on March 24, 2016, according to his lawyers, based on the testimony of a person he had never seen before. He was subsequently incarcerated in the Maximum Security Penitentiary in Shanghai. Upon his release, he was stuck in Shanghai due to Covid-19-related lockdowns, according to Digi24.

"I invite you to read the story of The Pink Blanket, the novel in which I tell you the story of my life. It is not my book; it is your book. The care, support, and affection I received from everyone are the three fingers with which I held the pen to write it. There are no words with which I could ever thank you!" the author said.

(Photo source: Litera Publishing House)